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Thin Mints: From Girl Scout Cookies To Candy Bars And Beyond

The Thin Mints may be the smartest cookies in the Girl Scout baked canon.

Alongside another iconic cookie brand, Oreo, which celebrated their 100th birthday today, the Girl Scouts of the USA are also commemorating their 100th anniversary this year. And while the Chicago Tribune reports that there will be plenty of singalongs, promise circles, and balloon releases held in the organization’s honor, non-Girl Scout members across the country will participate in the festivities in their own special way: enjoying a sleeve of the insanely popular Girl Scout Cookies. With a flavor available to fit every preference from the coconut ‘n caramel Samoas to the peanut buttery Do-Si-Dos, the cookies are one of the organization’s most recognizable and most anticipated fundraisers.

As taken from the official website, the Girl Scout Cookie Program is meant to be a means for girls to develop five essential life skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. With proceeds benefiting the Girl Scouts within the community, another incentive for selling is that typically high sellers are rewarded with various incentives from a catalog for selling x number of boxes (the more you sell, the better the freebie). Plugging back into the five life skills, this teaches the girls how to market the cookies- something they may not need much help in convincing fans to buy anymore either. There’s an app available on iTunes, the ‘Girl Scout Cookie Locator’ that helps find cookies in the area with the name of the location and date the sale starts included.

Though if there’s one cookie that never needs to be found, it’s the Thin Mints. An unquestionable staple referred to by the same name no matter which bakery sells it, what makes the Thin Mints so beloved? In an article that ran last year right in the heart of GSC season, Andrew Simmons compared the cookies to the band Bon Jovi in LA Weekly, ”We don’t know who played bass, drums, and keys. But we do know Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. As far as we’re concerned, Thin Mints are Jon and Peanut Butter Patties are Richie — the only ones which really matter.”

And if Thin Mints are the proverbial Jon Bon Jovi of the Girl Scout Cookie group, their staying power has now evolved past just cookie format. Like any good brand, they’ve evolved to a wider audience to attract the crowds during their downtime. Featuring the caption “Mother of God” a shared photo of a Thin Mints flavored Crunch bar recently found its way onto Reddit and ignited an online frenzy of people trying to find the minty goodness. Yes it’s real and Nestle will be working with the company to create the Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bar but it’s not available to buy just yet.

“The product photo is a retail sales sample and not available for sale at this time. Look forward to some very exciting news in June.” said Joshua Ackley, spokesperson for the organization. No doubt that the wrapper with its “limited edition cookie flavors” sticker will feature other members of the GSC family tree.

In the meantime, getting your hands on the Thin Mints may not require needing to buy a stockpile of the cookies anymore. Newly released today, “The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook” offers up a recipe for the Thin Mints promising it’s just as buttery and soft as the Girl Scouts bake.

“The Thin Mint’s sleek simplicity is its greatest virtue. No fillings, chips, or nuts distort the message, one of mint, pure and clean, fused with rich chocolate. Better than the taste though is the sound half a dozen make when you chomp into them: a crunch like a thousand dishes breaking, shells beneath your feet, handclaps from an 808.”

And there you have it. As articulated by Simmons, Thin Mints are successful because much like the Girl Scouts and their troupes, they are simple. They’re the leaders of the group and you just don’t mess with perfection. There is no need to play around with the formula, nothing that would demand a recall in products, and even the name itself conjures up a series of memories from childhood that in many ways are far more precious than the cookies themselves.

However, branching out to candy bars should have the organization approaching the Nestle partnership with caution. In 2008, Dairy Queen released a Thin Mints Blizzard treat that brought concern to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. Not only did the frozen confection feature a whopping 1,000 calories with over 30 teaspoons of sugar, there was backlash that the product didn’t promote the nonprofit brand as much as it did Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson, “Selling cookies door to door is one thing but [this] runs counter to the Girl Scouts’ mission, and this product and its marketing campaign deliver a very unhealthful message to young girls and others.”

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